The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	20 Naxals killed in gunfight with CRPF 18 bodies of suspected rebels recovered; 2 jawans critical Raipur/New Delhi, June 29 In a major crackdown by the CRPF, at least 20 Naxalites, including a woman, were killed in a fierce overnight gunfight in the dense jungles of Dantewada in Chhattisgarh that also left six jawans wounded. The CRPF has recovered 18 bodies of the suspected Naxalites while one of the ultras died after he was shifted to a hospital in state capital Raipur as he had sustained bullet injuries. "Sixteen bodies were recovered at Basuguda while two were recovered from Penta near Chintalnar. The forces have also recovered weapons and other belongings from the Naxals hideout," CRPF IG (Operations) at force headquarters in Delhi Pankaj Singh said. Sources said the Naxals fled with the body of one of its cadres. The encounter, which took place in the forests of Silger, an uncharted Maoist zone between the Naxal hotbed of Jagargunda and Basaguda in Bijapur district of Bastar region, was launched last night in a joint operation by over 300 CRPF and state police personnel from three directions. Officials said there were reports of more Naxals being killed in the encounter but the bodies could not be recovered. Home Minister P Chidambaram, while interacting with the media in the national capital, said among the killed ultras, three were "important leaders" of the Naxalites cadre and identified them as Somulu, Nagesh and Mahesh. "The CRPF and security forces dealt with the incident bravely and with great courage and skill," he said. This is the biggest offensive by security forces in a Naxal stronghold in Chhattisgarh this year. Six CRPF men, including two CoBRA commandos, sustained bullet injuries and have been air-lifted for medical aid to Raipur. Two of them are critical, officials said. This is the same area, close to Chintalnar, where Naxals had carried out an audacious attack on security forces killing 75 CRPF men and one state police personnel in 2010. Chidambaram said the operation was planned by the CRPF and state police but the "first fire" came from the Maoists and the forces were subjected to heavy firing. He said there were 45 ultras who ambushed the security forces' squad. Keeping in view the tough terrain and presence of a big Naxal squad in mind, the CRPF had deputed a deputy inspector general and two commandant-rank officers, supported by an additional SP of state police, to lead the operation. The CRPF mobilised three units of commandos and regular troops, aided by two helicopters for the encounter from three directions — Jagargunda, Chintalnar and Basaguda. The security forces also recovered some weapons, .303 rifles and other paraphernalia after the area was searched by them. The encounter comes over a month after Maoists had abducted and subsequently released the Collector of Sukma district Alex Paul Menon in Bastar region. The CRPF has deployed about 20 battalions (20,000 personnel) for undertaking anti-Naxal operations in the state. — PTI A joint operation The encounter, which took place in the forests of Silger, an uncharted Maoist zone between the Naxal hotbed of Jagargunda and Basaguda in Bijapur district of Bastar region, was launched on Thursday night in a joint operation by over 300 CRPF and state police personnel from three sides
	China factor brings India, Japan & South Korea closer Ashok Tuteja/TNS New Delhi, June 29 Against the backdrop of Beijing’s aggressive posturing on the South China Sea issue, India, Japan and South Korea today launched a trilateral dialogue, expressing their commitment to maintaining freedom of the seas, combating terrorism and promoting inclusive growth. While kick-starting the dialogue, the three countries also took note of the fact that they were all democracies of Asia which shared a commitment to democratic values, open society, human rights and the rule of law. The dialogue was held in pursuant of the joint declaration between India and South Korea during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Seoul in March this year. The dialogue, simlar to the one between India, Japan and the US, was inaugurated by Sanjay Singh, Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry. The participants included Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) Director General Arvind Gupta, Japanese Ambassador to India Akitaka Saiki and South Korean envoy Kim Joong-Keun. In what was clearly a message for China, Sanjay Singh said the common objective of India, Japan and South Korea was to see that the seas and oceans became regions of cooperation instead of competition particularly since every nation’s energy security and trade depended on them. “India, Japan and ROK (South Korea) depend heavily on the Sea Lanes of Communications (SLOCs) for their energy security. These are also the mainstay for trade and connectivity amongst our countries and other countries in the region. The Indian Ocean Rim is characterised by large Exclusive Economic Zones and unexplored and untapped marine resources. Similar potential exists for example in the South China Sea which today is witnessing competing claims,” he said. He was obviously referring to the Chinese attitude over the South China Sea. Beijing is at loggerheads with virtually every nation in the region, staking its claim over the South China Sea. In recent months, it had also warned India against undertaking oil exploration in blocks allotted to New Delhi by Vietnam in the South China Sea. The Indian representative said the primacy of India, Japan and South Korea was to maintain maritime trade, energy and economic security in the sea around them. “There is indeed a compelling case for us to cooperate on maritime security. From a nuclear security perspective as well, there can be significant cooperation amongst us as not only we need to deal with the conventional risks associated with nuclear power but also confront the risks of nuclear and missile proliferation in our neighbourhoods. Deepening cooperation amongst our defence and security establishments will promote our mutual security,” Sanjay Singh added. A range of views were expressed on the role of ASEAN and Russia in the Asian structure. It was also felt that India, Japan and South Korea should cooperate in developing the security architecture in Asia pacific by engaging China thoughtfully to fight the menace of piracy in the sea and mitigating natural disasters like earthquake and tsunami. Dragon threat n India, Japan and South Korea on Friday launched a trilateral dialogue, expressing their commitment to maintaining freedom of the seas, combating terrorism and promoting inclusive growth n Three countries took note of the fact that they were all democracies of Asia which shared a commitment to democratic values, open society, human rights and the rule of law n The dialogue was held in pursuance of the joint declaration between India and South Korea during PM Manmohan Singh’s visit to Seoul in March
	Tatra deal: CBI to confront Rishi, Natarajan New Delhi, June 29 The CBI is likely to confront suspended BEML chairman VRS Natarajan and Vectra Chairman Ravinder Rishi in its probe related to alleged irregularities in the procurement and supply of Tatra all-terrain vehicles. The agency will also question two former chairmen and Managing Directors of BEML along with Natarajan, sources said. The CBI has decided to question Natarajan, Rishi and former BEML officials after its recent spot visit to Banagalore from where it had seized some documentary evidence, they said. Based on these documents, CBI officials concluded that the officials need to be questioned again in connection with the alleged irregularities and if needed brought face to face to clarify some issues regarding the Tatra Sipox UK and BEML deal, they said. CBI sources said Natarajan will also be confronted with the documentary evidence of alleged irregularities which the agency teams have collected during searches and visit to Banagalore office of the PSU. Natarajan and Rishi, both have been questioned by the agency in connection with the case. Both have refuted allegations of any wrong-doing in connection with the case. — PTI
	CBI to close case against ex-Prasar Bharati chief New Delhi, June 29 The CBI is likely to file a report in a court here tomorrow seeking closure of the case of alleged fraud and criminal conspiracy against the then Prasar Bharati CEO BS Lalli in awarding broadcast rights of the Commonwealth Games. The CBI, which had alleged in its FIR that the award of the contract had caused a loss of Rs 100 crore to the exchequer, has now come to the conclusion that the allegation could not be substantiated during its investigation, sources said today. Last year, the agency had filed a case against Lalli and Managing Director of Delhi-based Zoom Communications Wasim Dehlvi, who is also the resident director of UK-based SIS Live, under section 120-B and 420 of Indian Penal Code related to criminal conspiracy and fraud respectively. The allegations were refuted by Lalli and Dehlvi. The CBI had alleged a major portion of the Rs 246 crore contract given to UK-based SIS Live by Prasar Bharati for "production and coverage" of Commonwealth Games was sub-contracted to Zoom Communications for only Rs 176 crore, resulting in loss of nearly Rs 100 crore to the exchequer. After an year-long investigation in the alleged scam, CBI has come to conclusion that there were no major shortcomings in these issues. — PTI
	Centre holds another round of talks with ULFA Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, June 29 The Government of India today held another round of talks with the leaders of United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) in New Delhi in efforts to find a permanent solution to the over 30-year-old insurgency problem in Assam. Senior Central government officials led by Union Home Secretary RK Singh held the dialogue with the six-member delegation of the ULFA led by its “chairman” Arabinda Rajkhowa, and discussed the outfit’s “charter of demands”. “The meeting with ULFA leaders was fruitful. We discussed the 12-point charter of demands,” an official source from New Delhi stated. The meeting was attended by representatives of Assam government and the Centre’s peace interlocutor for Assam and former IB chief PC Halder. During the two-hour-long talks, both sides discussed observance of ground rules for ceasefire earlier signed by both sides, surrender of arms and ammunition by the ULFA cadres in truce and total halt of operations against the pro-talk faction by security forces, sources said. ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa claimed the ULFA delegation raised the issue of illegal immigration plaguing Assam, Constitutional safeguard to natives of Assam who are facing an identity crisis due to unabated illegal migration from Bangladesh and a permanent solution to the flood problem. In the “charter of demands” submitted to the Centre, the ULFA has sought amendment to the Constitution for finding “meaningful” ways to protect the rights and identity of the natives of Assam. The ULFA delegation also sought the Centre’s help in bringing back its “general secretary” Anup Chetia, who is now lodged in a jail in Dhaka. They also sought the Centre’s nod to their travel to Bangladesh to meet him.
	Kerala to go ahead with seaplane project Thiruvananthapuram,June 29 The Kerala government has decided in principle to implement the seaplane project aimed at boosting tourism in the state. The public sector Pavan Hans would be entrusted with the work to carry out technical feasibility study of the project, State Minister for Tourism A P Anil Kumar said after a meeting convened by CM Oommen Chandy to discuss it. Five companies have approached the state government expressing interest in the project, he said adding government aims to have an open sky policy instead of having monopoly for any particular company. Seaplanes are small aircraft designed to take off from land and float in the water. — PTI
	Security beefed up in Lucknow’s VVIP zone Officials keep mum on terror threat Shahira Naim/TNS Lucknow, June 29 The VVIP Kalidas Marg housing the Chief Minister’s official residence as well as residences of senior ministers and judges has once again been barricaded and closed to public. The decision to barricade this high-security zone, which was thrown open to the public on March 15 soon after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was sworn in, comes a day after the longest security drill in the state capital. Officials are tight-lipped regarding any fresh security threat which might have caused the U-turn barely three and a half months after the opening of the road. Making a public show of the tightening of security, the district police on June 27 held its first-ever 24 hours’ long anti-sabotage mock drill in the VVIP areas of the capital covering the residence of Akhilesh, Secretariat and Vidhan Bhawan. Even the film shows were cancelled at a cinema hall falling within this security net. According to sources, the security drill was following intelligence inputs. Senior home department officials and officers of police, intelligence wing and Anti-Terror Squad met to review the security drill and the gaps witnessed during the exercise. During the meeting, shortcomings of the security drill were discussed, particularly in the use of hand-held metal detectors, sniffer dogs and bomb detection and disposal squads. A strategy was also worked out to fully equip the security personnel so that they could quickly counter any SOS regarding terror threat. During the review meeting, the decision to strengthen the security at the Chief Minister’s residence was taken. It has also been decided to fortify the security at vital installations, including the three disputed shrines as well as the Taj Mahal in Agra.
	Singur land losers to get special aid Subhrangshu Gupta/TNS Kolkata, June 29 The land losers at Singur will get subsistence allowance of Rs 2,000 every month and 2 kg rice every week from July 1 till the land dispute is settled, CM Mamata Banerjee told mediapersons at the Writers Building on Wednesday. She refused to comment on Governor MK Narayanan’s allegation that he was wrongly advised on the Singur Land Distribution and Development Bill and accordingly signed the Bill before sending it to Rashtrapati Bhawan for presidential assent. The Act was struck down by the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court as it did not have presidential assent. The Chief Minister, however, reiterated that the government would return the lands to the unwilling farmers by all means. “Let us see what happens in the Supreme Court where a petition has already been filed challenging the HC’s order,” she added. WBPCC president Pradip Bhattacharyya said the party did not take any responsibility of the present fate of the Singur Land Act as none of the Congress ministers in the Cabinet were consulted before finalising the Bill. The poor farmers at Singur were victims of the wrong decision of the CM, he alleged.
	Four Express, 2 passenger trains launched in Haryana, Punjab, J&K Syed Ali Ahmed/TNS New Delhi, June 29 Northern Railway today announced four new trains from difference places in North India that would cover Haryana, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. General Manager of the Northern Railway, VK Gupta, today said four air-conditioned Express trains, those between Sarai Rohilla and Udhampur, Ferozepur and Sriganganagar, Amritsar and Kanpur Central and Amritsar and Nanded in Maharashtra as also passenger trains between Rohtak and Panipat and Hoshiarpur and Ferozepur would be launched from next month. Besides, frequency of Chandigarh-Bandra Terminus Express train (presently running on Sunday from Chandigarh and on Monday from Bandra) will be increased from weekly to bi-weekly. The Chandigarh-Bandra Terminus Express will run every Sunday and Wednesday while Bandra Terminus-Chandigarh Express train will run on Monday and Thursday. The frequency of Dibrugarh Town and Chandigarh Express will be increased from weekly to bi-weekly. From Delhi, it will run every Monday and Friday and on return journey, it will run every Wednesday and Sunday. The Northern Railway GM said the course of the Amritsar-Jaipur Express train would be extended up to Ajmer. It will depart from Jaipur for Ajmer at 7.45 am. It will reach Ajmer at 9.35 am. On its way back, it will depart from Ajmer at 5.55 pm to reach Jaipur at 8 pm. It will depart from Jaipur at 8.10 pm to reach Amritsar at 2.45 pm the next day. Delhi-Jind passenger train’s journey will be extended up to Narwana. It will stop at all stations en route. Jind-Sirsa passenger train will now run on to Hisar. The date of extension of journeys of both the passenger trains will be announced later.
	Panel suggests modifications in NCERT books Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, June 29 The anti-Hindi agitation cartoon in NCERT Class XII political science textbook, which recently irked Dravidian parties, is among the few found laced with negative overtones by a committee of NCERT set up to assess tone of cartoons featuring in senior secondary level political science textbooks of the Council. The committee, set up to review cartoons in six political science textbooks taught in Classes IX to XII, has, in its report submitted yesterday, said a few of the cartoons used in these textbooks including the one showing anti-Hindi agitators from Tamil Nadu in a poor light, were unnecessary and should be removed. The panel suggested modification of captions in some cases and removal of certain politically and communally sensitive cartoons that had the potential to hurt sentiments of communities like Dalits. About 10 cartoons have been found objectionable and have been recommended for removal by the committee headed by SK Thorat, Chairman of ICSSR (Indian Council for Social Science Research). The committee report will now go to Chairman of the Academic Authority of NCERT Mrinal Miri, who will study the report and implement it. The panel has said all social science books taught at senior secondary level be reviewed for the purpose of updating these and reviewing their content. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, when contacted, said NCERT was within its power to take a decision based on the panel recommendations and the Ministry had nothing to do with this academic exercise. The committee was constituted after an outrage involving parliamentarians, who said during the Budget Session that several cartoons in NCERT books were derogatory and depicted them in poor light. Certain cartoons have indeed been found to be captioned offensively and their text modification recommended.
	Fresh drive to clear backlog in courts R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, June 29 The government has launched a campaign to quickly dispose of cases pending in the trial courts across the country for more than five years. Under the drive, to be known as "Five Plus Free," efforts would be made to deliver justice in these cases before the end of this calendar year. Law Minister Salman Khurshid has written to all Chief Ministers and the High Court Chief Justices to focus on disposal of such cases. The government has announced the exercise, encouraged by the success of the “Pendency Reduction Drive” undertaken last year during the July-December period. That drill had brought down the number of pending cases by 600,000, marking a reversal of the rising trend. In the previous year (2010), the number of pending cases had gone up by 500,000. Of the 3.2 crore cases pending in the trial courts, the HCs and the Supreme Court, about one-fourth or 80 lakh cases are more than five years’ old. The SC, however, accounts only for about 50,000 cases. Khurshid would launch this year’s drive at two functions, one to be held at the Karnataka HC tomorrow and another at the Bombay HC the next day. The ‘five plus free’ campaign is a marked dilution of the policy that had been announced by Khurshid’s predecessor, M Veerappa Moily, for disposing of trial court cases within three years.
	Abohar-Fazilka rail service to get going soon Syed Ali Ahmed Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 29 VK Gupta, General Manager, Northern Railway, today said that train service on the Abohar-Fazilka track, which was constructed in 2007, would start in a few months time. It was delayed as “technical permission” had not been given by the higher authorities concerned. He said that to start train traffic on new tracks, technical permission is required after the laying of tracks, construction of platforms and completion of electrification work. The foundation stone of the project to connect Abohar and Fazilka was laid on February 1, 2004, by the then Railway Minister Nitish Kumar. The project was completed in 2007. Train service on the segment would be commissioned in a few months, Gupta said. “All hurdles have been cleared,” he claimed. On the damage to the railway track and the stations on the route, he said that repairs would be carried out before running the trains. The project began with a budget of Rs 86 crore. The delay in construction pushed up the cost to Rs 276 crore. The project involved the construction of 42.11 km of railway track between the two border towns, five intermediate stations — Churhi Wala Dhana, Jandhwala Kharata, Khui Kherra, Ghalo and Burj Mohar — and 29 level crossings besides houses for rail employees at each station.
	Mamata moots all-party delegation for Central aid Subhrangshu Gupta Tribune News Service Kolkata, June 29 Contrary to her declared political stand against the CPI (M) and other left parties, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has sought the help and cooperation of the Opposition as she raises demands before the Centre. At the state Assembly today, she proposed an all-party delegation to Delhi demanding a three-year moratorium on repayment of the state’s loans and interests amounting to Rs 22,000 crore. Despite repeated requests, the demand had been turned down by former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. During the discussion, at one stage, the Left parties staged a walkout from the Assembly, protesting against the Speaker’s ruling disallowing the Opposition from moving a resolution against the Chief Minister. Mamata alleged the latest reduction in the petrol price was a political decision which was taken for ensuring the victory of the UPA candidate in the Presidential poll against PA Sangma. She further said the petrol price in the international market now stood at the lowest range and the Centre could easily have cut the price by at least Rs 10 per litre. Holding the Centre’s economic policies responsible for the enormous hike in prices of commodities and the rapid decline in value of money, the Chief Minister stressed the need for launch of a massive protest and agitation both inside and outside the Parliament by all political parties, irrespective of their political differences. Opposition leader Surya Kanto Mishra welcomed the Chief Minister’s proposal, saying they would join the all-party delegation to the Centre. “But the Chief Minister should stop unnecessarily blaming the former Left Front for the state’s present financial condition. We too had to run the government amid acute financial distress owing to the Centre’s non-cooperation and stoppage of central assistance during the past 34 years of our regime,” he said. WBPCC president Pradip Bhattacharya alleged that the sudden rise in prices of several items, especially fishes, potatoes, pulses and vegetables, had been triggered by the state government’s failure to stop hoarding and black-marketing. He alleged the TMC leaders and workers were taking care of vested interests of middlemen and hoarders while making the common man in the state suffer.
	Presidential Poll BJP to highlight Pranab’s ‘dismal’ record as FM Anita Katyal/TNS New Delhi, June 29 Having suffered a serious setback in its handling of the Presidential election, the BJP is now trying to recover lost ground by using the upcoming poll to bring the focus back on the UPA government’s shortcomings and highlight Pranab Mukherjee’s dismal record as a finance minister. Although Pranab Mukherjee’s victory is assured in the July 19 Presidential election, BJP strategists have decided to run a serious campaign in favour of opposition-backed candidate PA Sangma so as to use this opportunity to put the UPA government on the mat for its non-performance. With the country in a grip of a serious economic crisis, the BJP will particularly target Mukherjee and blame him for this mess. The BJP’s damage control strategy was finalised by the party’s core group which met last night to discuss the Presidential election. The BJP had been riding high till over a month ago as the UPA government faced the heat on account of a series of corruption charges, its poor record in governance and is inability to tackle the current economic crisis. However, the situation underwent a sea change in the past few weeks as the Congress-led UPA government managed to deflect attention from these negatives with its successful nomination of Pranab Mukherjee for the Presidency. While the UPA is now being perceived as a winner, the NDA has been in a disarray. Not only was the BJP wrecked by internal dissensions but it was further embarrassed when its two key partners, Janata Dal (U) and the Shiv Sena, opted to endorse the UPA’s Presidential candidate. In contrast, the internal conflicts within the BJP and its differences with its NDA partners like the Janata Dal (U) and the Shiv Sena, showed up the opposition as a divided house. Unlike the Congress, whose Presidential candidate was able to win friends across the political divide, the BJP failed to retain its allies. BJP’s strategy on the Presidential poll was unveiled today when it fielded senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi to slam the UPA government for its poor handling of the economic mess in the country and suggested that there was a communication gap between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. “Didn’t Pranab Mukherjee talk to the PM before taking decisions...how has the government been functioning,” Joshi said, adding that the economy is passing through a critical phase. Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari, however, denied these charges. “I explicity deny that there are differences between the PM and Pranab Mukherjee,” he said, adding that several key economic decisions on the pensions, insurance and banking bills were taken but it takes time to work through the legal processes. This war of words between the BJP and the Congress is bound to pick up in the coming days as they embark on their respective election campaigns.
	Delhi High Court rejects PIL against Pranab Legal Correspondent New Delhi, June 29 The Delhi High Court today dismissed a PIL against Pranab Mukherjee, observing that seeking votes in the Presidential election did not amount to “asking for pecuniary benefits” which was a criminal offence. The PIL, filed by advocate ML Sharma, had challenged the nomination of Mukherjee for contesting the Presidential election as a candidate of the Congress-led UPA when he was still the Finance Minister. A Bench comprising Justices VK Jain and Pratibha Rani also pointed out that Mukherjee had filed his nomination only yesterday after quitting the Cabinet. At this, counsel Sharma sought to withdraw his petition, which the Bench allowed, passing an order clarifying that it was being dismissed as withdrawn. Sharma has also filed a similar petition in the Supreme Court. A vacation Bench of the SC, however, rejected his plea for an urgent hearing. The petition would be taken up in the normal course, the Bench said.
	Farmers’ body wants MSP calculation norms revised Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 29 Terming as faulty the current way of calculating minimum support price of crops, the Confederation of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA) has demanded Rs 100 per quintal bonus for paddy and Rs 4,500 per quintal for gram to make farming a remunerative option. The CIFA, while listing recommendations on MSP calculation at a meeting convened by Commission of Agricultural Costs and Price (CACP) chairman Ashok Gulati, said the practice of taking three-year-old data and using projections to calculate the present cost of cultivation, instead of relying on current data generated by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, was leading to anomalies. “While recommending MSP for previous years, the CACP considered fixed costs based on yields rather than actual costs. We strongly recommend addressing the anomalies while calculating MSP and consider more realistic statistics to serve the interests of the farmers far more effectively instead of the present mathematical manipulation,” CIFA president Satnam Singh Behru said. Other recommendations of the CIFA include a comprehensive export policy for paddy, allowing export of BPT 5204 variety rice like basmati, allowing export of boiled rice and removal of restrictions on inter-state movement of BPT 5204 paddy/rice variety by Andhra Pradesh.
	Cash-for-bail scam: Judge sent to police custody Anti-Corruption Bureau to grill the accused for two days Suresh Dharur/TNS Hyderabad, June 29 Special CBI Judge T Pattabhirama Rao, whose alleged involvement in the cash-for-bail scam shocked the legal fraternity, was sent to the police custody today. A designated court here permitted the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to question the judge for two days, beginning tomorrow. The suspended judge, who faces the charge of accepting a bribe to grant bail to mining baron from Karnataka Gali Janardhan Reddy, will be grilled by the ACB sleuths from 11 am to 5 pm at their office here. After the two-day questioning, the judge will be sent back to the Cherlapally central prison, where he is lodged following his arrest on June 19. As the 1st Additional Special Judge for CBI cases, Rao had granted bail to Reddy in connection with an illegal mining case. The ACB had also arrested judge’s son Ravichandra and close friend TV Chalapathi Rao, who is a retired district judge and a history-sheeter from Yadagiri city. Chalapathi Rao had allegedly mediated the multi-crore deal. It was alleged that Rao had struck a deal with the close aides of Reddy for Rs 10 crore to grant bail to him and other accused in the Obulapuram illegal mining scam. Rao had received an initial payment of Rs 2.87 crore. The CBI sleuths conducted searches and recovered Rs 1.6 crore from five bank lockers belonging to the judge’s son and his close associates. As per the deal, the judge granted bail to Reddy on May 11. A few days later, money was transferred from Bellary to some bank accounts in Hyderabad. After the CBI unearthed the scam, the high court suspended the judge on May 31. The CBI sleuths kept a close watch on a history-sheeter in Hyderabad, who had played the mediator role in striking the deal, along with the retired district judge. The agency tracked his mobile calls and found that the judge was in touch with the mediators before and after granting the bail. Following a complaint by the CBI, then Chief Justice of the High Court Madan B Lokur ordered his suspension. The case was later transferred to the ACB, which registered cases against seven persons, including two BJP MLAs from Karnataka - Gali Somasekhara Reddy, brother of the jailed mining baron, and Suresh Babu - in the scam.
	Home Minister asks IPS officers to file returns Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 29 Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today asked the Indian Police Service (IPS) officers to submit their immovable property returns (IPRs) immediately. The returns of 550 IPS officers are pending, including senior CBI officials, 23 each from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, 11 from Haryana and 26 from Jammu and Kashmir. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which is the cadre controlling authority of the IPS, had set a deadline of January 31, 2012 for the IPS officers to file their returns from the calendar year 2011. The total strength of the IPS cadre is 3,325. Chidambaram told reporters during his monthly press conference that the state governments concerned had been requested to secure the property returns of these officers. In some cases, the officer concerned has informed the MHA that he or she had already submitted the returns to the state government and it is the state government which had apparently failed to forward the returns to the Centre. Chidambaram’s written statement said, “The MHA is advising the officers through an announcement on the website (of the ministry) that if they had already submitted their returns to the state government, and yet their names appear in the defaulting officers' list, the officer concerned should submit a copy directly to the Central government."
	Now, rice variety resistant to bacterial blight Suresh Dharur/TNS Hyderabad, June 29 Hyderabad-based Directorate of Rice Research (DRR) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have jointly developed a new rice variety, resistant to bacterial blight disease, and are planning to popularise its use among farmers. Known as the “Improved Samba Mahsuri”, the rice variety has been developed by using the marker assisted selection methodology, a biotechnological tool. “This rice variety can be a boon for farmers in the bacterial blight endemic areas of the country,” CCMB director Mohan Rao said. In the field trials conducted by the scientists of the two organisations in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, the variety was found to be resistant during epidemics of bacterial blight. Bacterial blight is a rice disease which affects the production of the crop drastically. There are no reliable methods for chemical control of the disease. The well-known Samba Mahsuri (BPT5204) rice variety, developed by the State Agricultural University in Hyderabad, is also susceptible to the disease. The Improved Samba Mahsuri is not a transgenic plant. In a bid to popularise the variety, the DRR and the CCMB are starting a programme to provide 10 kg seeds of the Improved Samba Mahsuri, free of cost, to all 500 rice-farming households. The project is being funded under the CSIR-800 programme, a flagship project of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research aimed at enhancing livelihood options of 800 million Indians who either live in the rural areas or constitute the urban poor. The programme is being undertaken in collaboration with the Krishi Vigyan Kendras of Nalgonda, East Godavari, West Godavari, Guntur and Kurnool districts. A team of DRR project director BC Viraktamath, CCMB director Mohan Rao and extension officials of the agriculture department recently interacted with 100 rice farmers and provided them the seeds of the Improved Samba Mahsuri. The CCMB said it would distribute the seeds of the Improved Samba Mahsuri to 1,500 farm-holds in the bacterial blight endemic areas of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh over the next two years. Super grain n The rice variety called “Improved Samba Mahsuri” is developed by Hyderabad-based Directorate of Rice Research (DRR) and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) n The rice variety is resistant to bacterial blight, a disease which affects the production of the crop drastically n To popularise the Improved Samba Mahsuri, the DRR and the CCMB will provide 10 kg seeds of the variety to 500 rice-farming households free of cost